3 December 2013

Bulgaria has been ranked again at the EU bottom in Transparency International‘s newly published Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2013. However, for the second year in a row, Bulgaria is not the most corrupt among the EU Member States, according to the Berlin-based body, which has ranked the country 77th out of a total of 177 with 41 points. Senegal and Tunisia are also 77th. Greece with 40 points is 80th and the most corrupt in the EU, but is has moved up from last year’s 36 points and 94th spot.

Bulgaria is the second most corrupt and Romania is ahead of Bulgaria with its 43 points and 69th spot (66th in 2012). Bulgaria is behind countries like Bhutan, Puerto Rico, Brunei, Cape Verde, Dominica, Costa Rica, Oman, Cuba, Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The report explicitly notes that any score below 50 points is problematic.

The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 – 100, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 means it is perceived as very clean. A country’s rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories included in the index.

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 offers a warning that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world. “More than two thirds of the 177 countries in the 2013 index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). “The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 demonstrates that all countries still face the threat of corruption at all levels of government, from the issuing of local permits to the enforcement of laws and regulations,” says Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International. In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, Denmark and New Zealand tie for first place with scores of 91. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia this year make up the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.

One of the main conclusions of the report is that the poorer a country, the higher and most wide-spread corruption is. Syria, which is shaken by civil war, Libya and Mali, involved in strong military conflicts in recent years, are among the countries that have made the greatest setback from their previous position, showing that corruption is also and often accompanied by the breakup of a State.

The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on experts’ opinions of public sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by strong access to information systems and rules governing the behavior of those in public positions, while a lack of accountability across the public sector coupled with ineffective public institutions hurts these perceptions.

“2013 results show that corruption within the public sector remains one of the world’s biggest challenges,” Transparency International said, “particularly in areas such as political parties, police, and justice systems. Public institutions need to be more open about their work and officials must be more transparent in their decision-making. Corruption remains notoriously difficult to investigate and prosecute.”

“Future efforts to respond to climate change, economic crisis and extreme poverty will face a massive roadblock in the shape of corruption,” Transparency International warns. Since 2012, TI uses an approach that provides greater clarity on how the index is constructed, making it easier to trace how the data from the sources are rescaled for inclusion in the Index. The updated method also means that a country’s Corruption Perceptions Index score will better capture changes in perceptions of corruption in the public sector of that country over time.

Tools to support transparency in local governance

This toolkit argues that the quality of urban governance can mean the difference between cities characterised by prosperity and inclusiveness and cities characterised by decline and social exclusion. It describes how increased transparency at the local level can help in combating urban poverty and enhancing civic engagement. Promoting transparency, through the application of a range of public education, public participation, e-governance, ethics and institutional reform instruments, can:

reduce citizen apathy

make service delivery contribute to poverty reduction

increase city revenues

raise ethical standards

The product of a partnership between Transparency International and UN-HABITAT (the United Nations Human Settlements Programme), Tools to Promote Transparency in Local Governance has been developed under the umbrella of the Global Campaign on Urban Governance. It builds on the first toolkit developed by the Campaign to promote good urban governance, Tools to Promote Participatory Urban Decision-Making (PUDM).

For an other view of Transparency International read Pinkindustry´s article and look at the net work schedules below.

Transparency International´s net work 1

Transparency International´s net work 2

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There is a lot of useful and practical information for human rights (or other) activists on Witness.org´s webpage and blog. In the previous post I added files and links about Witness.org series of what to consider when filming. After filming you also need to take care of, archive and perhaps share the video material. Actually already when filming you need to make decisions that will affect the archiving including accessibility. They have an entire page that takes you through the process step by step; Create, Transfer, Acquire, Organize, Store, Catalogue, Preserve and Share. The page also translates to Spanish and Arabic (I think). The PDF-files below are from that webpage, so take a look or download them.

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A little about me and the blog…

I have been to Bulgaria on vacation but I don't know the language, Cyrillic alphabet or anybody. So I´ll be encountering many new situations and hopefully gain some insights from them. Some of it may end up on my blog. But even blogging is new to me sooo we´ll see...